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Nicholas Grimshaw PPRA

Nicholas Grimshaw PPRA

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw graduated with Honours from the Architectural Association in 1965. He immediately started his own practice and won many architectural awards for his buildings in the 1960s and 1970s. These buildings were noted for their innovative approach to construction and detailing.

In 1980 Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners Ltd was formed continuing this tradition, winning much acclaim and 97 awards for Architecture and Civic Design. The practice is now recognised as GRIMSHAW and operates internationally with offices in London, New York and Melbourne.

The practice is best known in the UK for the Waterloo International Station and the Eden Project in Cornwall. Other significant projects are the RAC Regional Headquarters in Bristol; the Western Morning News Headquarters and Printing Press in Plymouth; and, in London, Sainsbury’s urban quarter in Camden, the Financial Times Printworks, the Headquarters for Lloyds TSB Bank in Gresham Street, the UCL Cancer Institute, and the re-development of Paddington Station.

Recent projects in the UK include the development of ExCel conference centre in London’s Docklands and a number of university buildings.

The practice is well known in Europe having completed six projects in Germany – the Ludwig Erhard House, which originally housed the Berlin Stock Exchange, the headquarters for IGUS plastics, VITRA furniture, MABEG sign systems, Pfeiffer Vacuum Systems and the Frankfurt Trade Fair Hall. Elsewhere in Europe the practice has completed the Ijburg Bridges and Bijlmer Station in Amsterdam (winner of the Building Magazine Building of the Year 2008), the British Pavillion at Expo ’92 and the Caixa Galicia Art Foundation both in Spain, plus the new Airside and Landside centres for Zurich Airport.

Recent projects in Europe include the E3 Fashion and Design Events Building in Milan, which will form part of Cesar Pelli’s masterplan in Garibaldi Republica.

Further afield, GRIMSHAW has completed the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, USA, and the National Museum in Monterrey, Mexico. Other projects include the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York State, and the Fulton Street Transport Center close to Ground Zero, the Queens Museum of Art in New York, the Earthpark in Iowa and, more recently, the Miami Science Museum and Pulkovo Airport at St Petersburg.

In Melbourne, Australia, the team has completed the refurbishment of Southern Cross Station, winner of RIBA’s Lubetkin Prize 2007.

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw has lectured in 23 countries worldwide, including the USA. Most recently he gave his lecture ‘Embedded Intelligence’ in New York, Mexico City and Monterrey. Previously he has given his lecture entitled ‘Going Green – Architecture, the Environment and Eden’ at the National Building Museum in Washington DC and the Louis Kahn Memorial Lecture at Penn University, Philadelphia. He is a registered architect in England, France, Germany and Spain. Following examination in 2002 he is also registered to practice architecture in the State of New York.

Sir Nicholas was elected a Royal Academician in 1994 and in the same year he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the AIA. He was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 and in December 2004 was elected President of the Royal Academy of Arts. He was President until 2011. In 2008 he was conferred as Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts London.

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw continues actively to lead his own practice as the Chairman of the Board.

The work of GRIMSHAW is the subject of a series of books published by Phaidon in London: Architecture, Industry and Innovation deals with the years 1965-1988; Structure, Space and Skin covers 1988-1993; and Equilibrium deals with the work of the Practice from 1993 – 2000.

Nicholas Grimshaw PPRA - Selected CV

Selected Scholarships and Memberships

2007 Elected Honorary Fellow of the Mexican Institute of Architects
2004 Elected President of the Royal Academy of Arts
2003 Prince Philip Designers Prize – Special commendation for outstanding achievement in design for business and society
2002 University of the State of New York License to practice Architecture
Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
Created Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty the Queen for Services to Architecture
1999 Elected President of the Architectural Association
1995 Elected Honorary Member Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA
AJ Centenary Medal for Contribution to Architecture
1994 Elected Vice President of the Architectural Association

Teaching

2008 Visiting Professor, University of the Arts, London
1996 Visiting Professor, University of Southbank, London
1978-1979 Visiting Lecturer in Architecture, Cambridge University
1972-1973 Lecturer in Architecture, Bartlett School, University of London

Selected Publications

2003 The Architecture of Eden, Eden Project Books/ Transworld
2000 Equilibrium: the work of Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners 1993-2000, Phaidon Press, London
1996 Architecture, Industry and Innovation: the early work of Nicholas Grimshaw and Partner
1993 Structure, Space and Skin: the work of Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners 1988- 1993, Phaidon Press, London
1988 Product + Process, Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, London
1986 Reinventing the Factory, Royal society of Arts, London
1984 The Future of Industrial Building, Royal Society of Arts, London

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